How far is too far for a wedding venue ?

I think that distance is fine for all day guests but you may struggle getting evening guests to accept. So it depends on your guest list, if you would be looking at a lot of evening guests then maybe keep looking for the Oxfordshire area.

View quoted message Yes I think you’re right so therefore I think it would be day guests only for Yorkshire


Do you think an hour is too far for evening guests too ?

I don't think distance will be an issue for day guests - people are used to travelling long distances to a location that has sentimental or family connections for the bride or groom. But I agree that most evening guests will not come unless they are interested in combining it with a weekend or week's holiday in the area.

I probably wouldn't travel an hour to be an evening guest - I'd only travel that far for a very close friend, and if I were that close, I'd probably be a daytime guest anyway.

Ours is 2hrs away from us and ranges from 1.5hrs to several hours for our family, so almost everyone is staying. We have 5 guests (a group of 4 & 1 other person) who are daytripping, but everyone else is staying at least 1 night, others are making a whole week of it. We chose not to have separate evening guests and this was part of our original vision for the wedding, so if evening guests are important to you, they should factor into your choice.


One thing I’d also consider is the toll it takes on you. You will have to go back to the venue and visit suppliers in that area multiple times. I’ve combined most of our visits, but I’ve made the trip to our wedding area 5 times before the wedding (not all to see the venue, but you’ll have menu tasting, cake tasting, hair/makeup trial, flower consultations etc.). If you do go for Yorkshire, that’s additional nights away, time off from work, petrol etc., so also something to consider.

Your family from Scotland will have to travel regardless but everyone else you said is local. So why not keep it local?


I also agree with Lisa about the convenience of having a venue you can travel to several times before your date without it being a big thing as you may need to meet with the coordinator or your wedding suppliers/vendors more than once before the day.
However this Yorkshire venue you’ve fallen in love with sounds amazing! If you want it there, do it. It’s your day and everyone who loves you will sort their own logistics out and be there to support you regardless. If not, that’s just less mouths to feed and you can send them your wedding highlights clip as compensation! 😉

We had same issue. Half in Scotland and half in Buckinghamshire England. As we couldn’t please everyone we met in the middle at Scottish Borders & we pleased ourselves instead snd married at Gretna Green…some guests came & some didn’t…. But we had a beautiful day regardless.

Thank you all so much, your advice has been great. I think we’ve found somewhere local now so only the Scottish contingency need to stay